1. The Plane Ride

Sitting on the plane, one might have imagined I was traveling somewhere, somewhere to have fun, to have a vacation. This was nowhere near the truth. In reality, I was traveling to Forks, Washington, the rainiest place in the United States and I was not happy about it.

My mother, Renee was shipping me off to live with my father, Charlie. I was fourteen, almost fifteen and she told me that I had too much attitude for my own good. The only reason I had anything close to attitude was that she was dating some guy named Phil. He is so much younger than her, that they should be illegal.

I hated Forks. I hated everything about it, from the constant raining to the fact there’s only one bathroom that my father and I will have to share. Plus, there was the fact that since it was a small town, everyone knew everyone else’s business, not that I had anything to hide or anything, but still, a little privacy would be appreciated.

I grimaced, trying to repress these thoughts that plagued my mind almost constantly, and tried to lean back against my hard, uncomfortable seat. I was burning up in the layers of clothes that my mom insisted on me wearing even though I was leaving Phoenix, Arizona. I decided that during the layover I would take off my parka and hoodie. I would have done it on the plane, but that would have been near impossible considering that I was smashed against some middle aged man who was reading the newspaper, hitting me almost constantly and a woman who was chomping on about five sticks of gum while talking to her husband who was across the aisle.

Of course, my layover wouldn’t be for another hour so I grabbed a CD with my favorite songs and pulled on the earphones. Debussy’s Clair De Lune softly played, calming me one note at a time. Before it could change to another song, I pressed repeat, letting the calmness wash over me until I heard the nasally voice of the flight attendant telling us to turn off electronics.

I sighed, pressed off and stuck the machine in my bag. We slowly started to descend down to the earth and as everyone got quieter the loud chewing gum started falling out of the woman’s mouth. She pushed it back in and pressed the call button. From the front of the plane, I could see one of the attendant’s throw her a dirty look as she started hesitantly down the walkway. I couldn’t wait to get off this plane and take off these stupid layers.

However, I could wait to land and have an awkward silence with Charlie from the airport. Both of us were very taciturn and in many ways we were suited for living with each other in many ways.

Beside me I could hear the woman asking how much longer we were going to be in the air and without replying; the flight attendant shook her head and walked back to where she was supposed to be in the first place.

“We are now starting our descent. Please stay seated until I come back on.” The annoying voice alleged calmly.